My inner critic

Long before I created my first design, I found out I had a critic. This critic was harsh, cold, and demanding. Every time I would do anything, this critic would show up, tease my work, and remind me that it wasn’t as good as it should be. From childhood through college, and even beyond, this critic followed me everywhere, taunting my every move.

As much I was wanted to punch this critic in the face, I couldn’t.

That critic was me.

In all honesty, my critic pushed me forward. It was because of that inner critic that I found out I could so many things, like move across the country, or start my own company.

But the good never outweighed the bad.

Because of this terrible motivational coach, I also stopped a lot of things I enjoyed. At one point I tried to learn the cello, and my inner critic shut that down pretty quickly. My inner critic kept me from getting a tattoo for the longest time. Even more than all of that, my inner critic stunted my creativity. I kept hearing, “Give up,” so many times that I stopped trying to have ideas.

It’s only been in the last year that I’ve learned to calmly tell my inner critic to shut up. We all need our inner critic. When I’m working on a piece, or even writing this blog (or whatever this is), my inner critic helps.

But now I dictate the terms for my inner critic. It doesn’t taunt me all of the time, and I’m working really hard to keep it in line. Overall, I’m learning to leverage it to push me to do more instead of pushing me to shy away from everything else.

My inner critic had been more of a bully. I’m done tolerating it it’s terrible behavior. I don’t know if my critic will ever go away. As for now, I’m happy it just stays within its boundaries.